As you are all well aware of a company called Apple recently launched the iPhone. In the Netherlands T-Mobile has the exclusive right to sell the iPhone. Since the iPhone is a big hype at the moment a lot of affiliates from T-Mobile have invested heavily in promoting the device…until T-Mobile decided to not pay any fee for iPhone sales, stating that the “iPhone sells itself”.

On the launchdate of the iPhone in the Netherlands T-Mobile sent out a mailing to all affiliates stating that “it is not allowed to generate traffic/sales for the iPhone without permission from T-Mobile” and asking affiliates to “end all promotion activities immediatly”.  After some pressure from (among others) Paul Schoenmakers from Dutch affiliate blog affiliateblog.nl T-Mobile decided to pay 10% of the normal fee instead of no fee at all.

This enraged a lot of T-Mobiles biggest affiliate partners who in turn tried to convince T-Mobile to pay the normal fee by signing a petition. This was to no avail. After speaking with their affiliate networks T-Mobile decided to pay 10€ per iPhone sale, less than half of their normal fee.

Interesting is the fact that T-Mobile somehow overlooked their affiliate program as a sales channel and therefore failed to inform affiliates prior to the launch.  Furthermore T-Mobile did not engage in any conversation with their affiliate partners and even was not available to accept the petition.

The statement from T-Mobile that “the iPhone sells itself” is a big joke because why would they advertise heavily with banners(!) and billboards if the iPhone sold itself?

All of this has led to a large number of big Dutch affiliates ending all promotion for T-Mobile. It is to be seen if this in turn leads to a new reaction from T-Mobile.

I guess you all can see which lessons are to be learned from this….